Lousy weather calls for dreams of diners. But first some news. The Hometown Diner from Ottawa, Ohio is moving to Rindge, New Hampshire. This Silk City diner started out as the Silver Diner in Kentucky and was bought by Steve Harwin who fixed it up. I was able to visit the diner while in Ottawa, Ohio, which is in the northwest quadrant of Ohio. The diner had a mediocre location, being north of downtown in a corner of a mid century shopping plaza. Good food and a good experience would negate any location issues. The food was not bad when I was there, but I think the owner, who was living part time, if not most of the time, in Germany, wanted to be in Germany all of the time. Ottawa is also not a large place, so I am sure they did not have a large customer base either. Their population according to google is 4,438.
In "celebration" of the moving of this diner, I will be posting photos of diners that have moved recently or will be moving shortly.
Here is the Hometown Diner, which by the time most people read this, will be in Rindge, New Hampshire. But when this photo was taken, it was in Ottawa, Ohio. You can barely see that the back building has a little Silk City style to it, but otherwise, it is plain. I am not a fan of the foyer. It is too boxy and takes away from the curvy charm of this Silk City diner. The interior has its original tones of brown tile and is simple but clean. It will be sad to see this go, but getting to Ottawa was not an easy task without losing quite a bit of time on my travels. Sometimes that is part of the purpose of traveling, and sometimes you just want to get to your destination, as a vacation is only so long.
Keeping in Ohio and with a Silk City theme is Kim's Classic Diner in Sabina, Ohio. Another small town. This one is west of dowtown, at least on a US highway. I have eaten here only once and I think I have been through town three other times, when the diner has been closed. The internet seems to say the food was not all that good, and Sabina just does not seem like a diner town. This diner started out near Port Jervis, New york on US Rt 6, was bought by Al Sloan and moved to Alpena, Michigan before it went to Ohio. I met the original owners and they seemed nice and interested in diners, but a business takes so much more than that.
Here is a two for! The Pumpjack Diners located in Wichita Falls, Texas. Both of these diners were remodeled by Steve Harwin. This one was the former Brandywine Diner of Wilmington, Delaware. Mountain View #368 from 1954 according to Steve Harwin. Steve talks about the nightmare in rescuing and restoring the diner. He stated that when the owner closed down the diner, he was living there and that many animals also lived inside the diner. The other diner seen below is a 1955 O'Mahony diner from Dayton,
Ohio. In Dayton, it was known as the Gatehouse
Diner. This was a chain of two diners, one being a Sterling diner.
When I visited these diner in Wichita Falls, they were closed, and there is no word on if they will reopen. The city is a good size, but the location is quite odd, being maybe 100 feet from an above round expressway over the city streets. Not terribly difficult to get to, but not easy on and off, the diner really sits in a residential neighborhood just outside of the downtown area.
A Valentine diner to end this trip out west to closed diners that have recently been moved. Chickasha, Oklahoma is home to a roadside gem called the Muscle Car Ranch, owned by Curtis Hart. Curtis has collected a ton of roadside signs from all our the lower mid-west and assembled them at his RV park. Among his collection are two Valentine diners. This one, Brees Diner spent most of its days in Chickasha. Curtis found it in storage in a nearby town and brought it back to his ranch. It is mostly original on the inside.
Disclaimer for all photos posted here:
No comments:
Post a Comment